


Burning Ashes & Bleeding Hearts

by DecrescentMelancholy



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Gaara (Naruto), BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Blood and Injury, Electrocution, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Loyalty, Missing-Nin Gaara, Missing-Nin Uzumaki Naruto, Platonic Life Partners, Queerplatonic Relationships, Stabbing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:02:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28794366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DecrescentMelancholy/pseuds/DecrescentMelancholy
Summary: Ocean blue eyes looked around the moving forest, taking in the green and brown and vibrant colors calling for him. Calling him in.His blood froze inside his veins when he realized that he knew these trees. He knew the rocks and the trees and this hidden road. His heart started speeding up, melting the frozen blood inside his veins, turning it into molten lava that made him run.He ran forward, further into the forest, kicking up earth on his way. He ran without breath, without stop and thinking, only the nagging feeling in the back of his mind. By the time that he halted, Naruto choked on a gasp, tears sliding freely down his cheeks as there in front of his eyes stood tall and proud the wooden gates of the Leaf.The dread ran true to his fear since he stepped in the Land of Fire, his teeth cutting deep on his tongue for ignoring the clear warnings telling him to stay away. Yet he found himself in front of his former village like a deer watching danger loom over them.
Relationships: Gaara & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 3
Kudos: 45





	Burning Ashes & Bleeding Hearts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yupii5000](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yupii5000/gifts).



“Stay with me, Gaara. Keep your eyes open,” Naruto begged his partner, dragging the heavy body out of the river.

There was a trail of blood left behind, washing with the soft stream. Naruto tried to ignore the tinted color, but Gaara winced and his wound thumped out more blood. Cursed crimson. The blonde gritted his teeth. 

Naruto half carried him deeper into the forest, worriedly looking at Gaara every few seconds. He never had had to pick up his partner before, the both of them always managing to get out of situations mostly unscathed - or close enough to known places that they could get quickly patched up before going back to the road. What was happening right now was unheard of. 

The blond lowered Gaara into the ground gently, stepping back a bit when his partner hunched into himself so he could wrap both arms around his middle. Naruto clenched his fists when he saw the pitiful position, nails biting into the inside of his palms. 

“I’m cold,” Gaara let out, curling in on himself. The wound on his side crying red. 

“You’re hurt,” Naruto answered, kneeling beside his friend. “But I’m going to find you help, okay? I’m going to make you better.” 

Slowly, the blonde laid a hand over Gaara’s wound, a faint blue healing glow giving him enough hope that he could leave his partner for a while until he found someone that could help. 

Gaara sighed, closing his eyes while his body leaned backward onto a tree. 

Naruto stayed there even after he finished closing the wound the best of his ability. He stayed hunched on his heels, watching as his friend slipped into a tired sleep, arms still hugging his trembling form. 

He blamed himself for the situation, blamed himself for being so stupid and unaware. They had entered the Land of Fire and his mind wasn’t in the right place. Otherwise they could never have been ambushed so easily and pushed back until hurt. Kicked into the river where Gaara couldn't use his sand for protection and thus leading to the wound on his side. 

If only he had cared less, if he hadn’t been sulking, then Gaara wouldn’t-

Snapping out of his thoughts, Naruto shook his head. He looked down at his friend one last time, fingers moving forward to slide some stray red hairs out of Gaara’s eyes. 

“I’ll be back,” Naruto whispered, leaving a kiss over the ‘love’ mark over Gaara’s brow. 

-

There had been a prickling in the back of his mind for a few hours now, some warning blaring loud inside his ears and the jarring noise kept getting louder the further he walked away. Naruto had been ignoring it for the most part, but now it seemed like thunder and it was breaking apart his head. So, he stopped. 

The air whirled around him in a cool dance, giggling bells that kissed his tanned skin. The leaves sang along with nature’s melody, moving up and down where they sat on the trees. 

Ocean blue eyes looked around the moving forest, taking in the green and brown and vibrant colors calling for him. Calling him in. 

His blood froze inside his veins when he realized that  _ he knew these trees _ . He knew the rocks and the trees and this hidden road. His heart started speeding up, melting the frozen blood inside his veins, turning it into molten lava that made him run. 

He ran forward, further into the forest, kicking up earth on his way. He ran without breath, without stop and thinking, only the nagging feeling in the back of his mind. By the time that he halted, Naruto choked on a gasp, tears sliding freely down his cheeks as there in front of his eyes stood tall and proud the wooden gates of the Leaf.

The dread ran true to his fear since he stepped in the Land of Fire, his teeth cutting deep on his tongue for ignoring the clear warnings telling him to stay away. Yet he found himself in front of his former village like a deer watching danger loom over them. 

Stupid. He was so stupid for running forward and not back to where Gaara waited. 

Gaara. 

Gaara was waiting for him, vulnerable and alone. Naruto left saying he would find help. 

“Coming in?” 

His head turned down to look at the silhouette walking towards him, the form of a man approaching. His legs stayed rooted on the spot. 

He could play this to his advantage, wrap the ninjas around his finger to get the help he had set out to find. Naruto licked his lips, heart wrenching behind his ribcage as the man got closer to him.

"Hey," The same person called, a voice that spoke to a past he didn't want to remember. 

Naruto stared at the grown up version of Nara Shikamaru with tears in his eyes and a gasp on his tongue. This was a string that still connected him to the village of his childhood, a string so worn down and fragile he thought it gone. But seeing the Nara now in front of him told him enough of his so-called severed ties. 

Shikamaru frowned at him, taking a single step forward before he tensed, whole body going through a neat battle trained motion that ended with his hand grabbing a sword from his back and pointing it directly at the blonde. 

“Naruto,” Shikamaru breathed, looking him up and down, almost like he was seeing a ghost. Naruto couldn’t blame him, for he himself was looking at one too. 

“Nara,” Naruto bit out, taking a step back and away. Shikamaru noticed. Good, he already took the bait. 

There was a shrill noise then, a call to the people beyond the gate. Reinforcements. Smart move from the genius; Shikamaru was aware he couldn’t capture Naruto alone. 

“I’m not looking for trouble,” he said, raising both arms over his head, his feet still moving away. For each step back Shikamaru took two. Naruto restrained the need to smile, yet his lips still quirked a bit. 

“Then you shouldn’t have come here.” 

It took a twitch of his body, the smallest signal of his probable escape for Shikamaru to shout out a command, hands moving with unseeable speed before he slammed down the metal sword onto his shadow, this way impaling Naruto on his thigh. The blond yelled, falling to the ground, hands moving to the bleeding wound on his leg.

“Fuck,” he grunted, sending a heated glare the Nara’s way. 

The reinforcements formed a tight circle around him in case he tried to escape again. He wouldn’t, but they didn’t know that. Idiots, as if he would allow himself to be captured so easily if he didn’t want it to happen that way. 

“You’re going to hell, Nara,” Naruto spat out at the man, wanting to punch the self satisfied smirk from his face. 

“I’ll see you there,” Shikamaru answered, tilting his head toward one of the ninjas surrounding him. 

That was the last he saw before the lower ranking soldier came to knock him out. 

-

It was damp.

Naruto opened his eyes to darkness, even this slight movement making his head hurt. 

After blinking several times to focus on his whereabouts he came to realize that the air was clinging to him almost like sweat. Wet air. He was underground. 

The sound of cringing metal snapped him out of his hyper awareness of the damp feel. He squinted to the side where bars separated him from a mirror cell. A cell that was currently occupied. 

Naruto could have whined if he was anyone else, throwing himself at the separation between cells. “Gaara!”

His hands were inches away from passing through the opening between the rods when an electric shock threw him back. He hissed, bringing his hands close to his chest, looking at the minor burns on his palms before they healed. 

“Like it?” Someone asked him, a voice that hid in the darkness. “It was my idea.” 

Naruto composed himself, straightening his back against the stone wall behind him, taking the time to relax every muscle in his body, uncoiling his - quite better now - legs from their kneeling position. 

At least he knew they had brought Gaara in with him. Naruto could sigh in relief knowing his plan had worked. He didn’t know if they had healed him yet, but they would after hearing Naruto scream his name. The Leaf had enough common sense to not let a jinchuuriki die purposely, knowing they could have a disaster on their hands.

And possibly war. Oh, the Sand would be furious if they were to find out an allied village took their bijuu for themselves. 

The disembodied voice didn’t speak again until the owner stepped away from the shadows. Naruto made a show to stare at the man with disinterest, head tilted back. 

“Hatake Kakashi,” Naruto grinned, joining his hands on his lap. “Of all the people I never wanted to see again.” 

Kakashi stood in front of his cell, arms crossed over his chest, his left eye uncovered. Intimidation tactic, more than the defensive stance. Kakashi was displaying his sharingan, keeping the red gaze on him. 

_ Red like the blood Gaara lost because of him. Red like his mindless fury that he couldn’t let go of. He would start to hate the color if it didn’t match his partner so well. _

“I thought you were smarter than this, given all the years you managed to evade us. Guess I was wrong.” Kakashi ignored his previous statement, most likely trying to get a rise out of him. Naruto laughed. 

“Me? Smart? Sensei- didn’t you know? I’m nothing but a joke.” His tongue came out to lick his chapped lips, a crazy glint shining in his ocean blue eyes. 

He saw Kakashi turn hard, his lips pursing, jaw setting. If he looked closely he could watch the way his hands were digging into his clothed arms. It made the blond grin. 

“Just a prankster,” Naruto continued, now looking down at his pants, tracing invisible patterns on the material. “I simply wanted to come back home.” 

That word tasted like ash and rotten food. Like bruises and cold. 

_ Home.  _

This village had been many things, but home was never one of them. 

“What about him?” Kakashi interrupted his thoughts, head jerking at his sister cell. “Did he want to go home as well?” 

Naruto sent a quick look to him, moving back down to keep watching his fingers create figures. “His home is wherever mine is.” 

The older man raised an eyebrow. “Gaara, right? That’s what you called him before.” 

“And it matters why?” 

“The jinchuuriki of the sand,” Kakashi continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, walking to the front of Gaara’s cell. “They’re offering quite a sum for whoever brings him back to the desert.” 

Naruto giggled, a deranged sound that would be fit for a child but never him. “You would die before stepping out of your precious village.”

Because, Naruto had risked everything when he ran away years ago for Gaara, and now he was putting it all on the line so his partner would get the treatment he needed. But he would first die before letting them put Gaara through this. Naruto would slice his own throat if it was the only choice. Gaara would never again touch the Sand if he could help it. 

His eyes were sunset orange when he spoke again, mouth steaming at the edges as he smiled a sharp smile at Hatake Kakashi, dropping his head to the side like a marionette without strings. 

“Touch him,” his voice came out warbled, deeper than it was before. “And I shall cut you into pieces small enough I can feed them to the birds.” 

There was some emotion playing over Kakashi’s features, a way of trying to recognize the unhinged animal smiling at him while delivering threats. Naruto pinpointed the exact moment his former teacher gave up. 

Just then a knock came from afar, some kind of pattern to which Kakashi reacted. The older man stepped away, hiding his Sharingan not long after. 

“Fun as this was, I have to leave.” 

Naruto threw a mock salute Kakashi’s way, dropping the sugary smile once he was alone in the cold. His body leaned sideways, instinctually seeking Gaara. He waited and listened, tuned in with his senses until the far away door clicked and reached him. He moved then, knees scraping on the stone floor as he made his way to the cell division.

“Gaara,” Naruto whispered, eyes roaming over his sleeping partner’s body, hands motioning forward as if wanting to reach out again, but holding back because of the promise of pain. 

It was going to be a long night. 

-

There was an opening over his head. He hadn’t seen it before because of how fast events happened when he opened his eyes, but now with nothing else to do Naruto found his gaze lingering on the streaming moonlight that passed through that one opening. 

The crevice had metal bars, just like his cell, and was probably just as guarded. Not that he had tried to touch them yet, not while Gaara was still sleeping. If he was going to escape, he wanted his partner aware. 

Groaning, the blond hunched in on himself, hugging his legs and hiding his face on his knees. He was tired. He was tired and hungry and everything hurt. The past few hours hadn’t afforded him much time to think, but now that the adrenaline was wearing off, it was all catching up with him. It was like lead formed over his muscles, making them pull every time he moved. 

Sounds came from beside him, a rustling of clothes. Naruto shot up, turning his head to look through the bars at the twitching body of his partner. 

“Gaara!” Naruto whispered, crawling across the stone floor to sit in front of the separation of their cells. “You’re awake.”

The redhead coughed, dragging a hand down his face before he pushed it on his wound. He winced. 

“And you’re loud.” 

Naruto laughed, the sound wet and relieved, tears brimming on the corners of his eyes. 

He waited a few seconds, watching closely as his partner found his bearings. Gaara wasn’t completely awake yet, still trapped in that hazy in-between space. His aquamarine eyes jumped around the bare space, slowly gaining a life and sharpness they didn’t have before. 

“We’re in the Leaf,” Gaara guessed, sitting upright on his spot. “How?” 

Naruto bit his lip nervously, a habit he had almost gotten rid of. “I let myself be caught.” 

The questioning glare sent his way burned. “Why?” Gaara asked. 

“It was the only way I could think of to get you the help you needed.” 

“Naruto-” Gaara started, turning to him, a worried look on his face. 

They have had talks about this before, how feelings while in the wild could be their undoing. They’ve trained against it, fought the instinct to reach out a hand to the other. They couldn’t show vulnerability to anyone lest they risked their lives. Naruto knew about compartmentalizing, knew about staying on track, it was just this damned land. It was seeing Gaara unable to use his sand and bleeding out. 

“I know,” the blond interrupted, looking down at the floor. “I know, you don’t have to tell me.” 

While it had been the logical decision, it was one that could cost them both their future freedom if they didn’t think of a way to get away. The Leaf wouldn’t let them out of their sights, not with how dangerous and important they were. Not with the high prices on their heads. Yet, Naruto didn’t find it in himself to feel guilt. 

“I couldn’t let you die,” he sighed, rubbing his eyes. “I couldn’t.” 

Silence took over then, just air and moonlight bathing their night. Naruto felt the redhead’s eyes on him, but he didn’t turn to meet them. He knew what Gaara would see, what his soul would bare loose once they turned to his strongest weakness. For a while he wanted to remain hidden, even if he had to hide from the most important person in his life. 

-

Naruto felt marks on his face first thing after waking up, jaw loosening slightly to get some feeling around his mouth. The floor wasn’t a comfortable place to sleep, but he was somehow used to these arrangements. Being on the run didn’t leave you with much luxury. 

“Morning,” Gaara’s voice reached him. 

Blinking away the blurriness, Naruto sat up and looked to his twin cell. There, Gaara was sitting cross legged, tray of food empty in front of him, tunic sitting lazily on the floor beside it. There were bandages wrapping around his stomach, white and clean and new. 

Naruto yawned, “They came to heal you.”

It wasn’t a question yet Gaara still gave him a nod. “It was a while ago. They should come back to feed you soon. Probably.” 

Naruto took off a sandal to throw it at his partner, grunting at the chuckle that came from Gaara when the shoe only managed to hit the metal bars and sizzle before falling to the ground. 

The two of them had a running joke that Naruto was more animal than person, his whiskers and behavior often proving Gaara’s point. On more than one occasion the blond had run off to chase some cat or squirrel he found on the way, sometimes even walking around with kids on his back like he was a transport. Naruto didn’t mind, not when it was Gaara hinting at it. 

“You’re lively today,” Kakashi’s voice joined the fray, instantly souring the mood. “Is it because your boyfriend’s awake?”

Gaara raised an eyebrow at the older man, not moving from his meditating position in the middle of his cell. Naruto felt a groan work itself up his throat, common sense quickly squashing the sound down. He grinned instead, canines sharp. 

“Kakashi,” Naruto purred, leaning back on his hands, hair creating a shadow over his eyes. “Miss me? I didn’t think I would see you again so soon.” 

Kakashi stared down at him like he was watching a stranger, a stray animal enclosed in its kennel, too stupid to do anything but mewl. He kicked a small opening on the cell, squatting down at its level to push through a metal tray. 

“Food,” Kakashi said, closing the opening again before standing up. Naruto noticed the way no electricity touched his former teacher in those few seconds. 

“And here I thought you would let me starve.” 

Kakashi snorted, turning away from him, hiding his only visible eye. Out of sight…

“Eat, you need your strength for when the visit appears.” 

Naruto frowned, pushing forward his body. “Visit?”

Kakashi didn’t answer, simply walking away and out of the dungeon, closing the far away door behind him. 

-

Naruto would be lying if he said that the comment didn’t gnaw on his mind, all through the meal and after the word ‘visit’ played loops inside his head. Gaara tried to drag him away from his thoughts, but every time he did, Naruto swatted at him and hissed. The redhead stopped trying after that, instead choosing to sing off key.    
  
“He was trying to psych me,” Naruto muttered, disregarding how Gaara was singing a badly sung version of one of the Grass village songs. “No one would come down here.” 

And it was the commotion from upstairs that finally made him step away from his brain. Gaara stopped singing, opening his eyes to stare at the entrance to their current living space in synchronization with Naruto. No one came. 

There were shouts, a few grunts and orders being yelled before silence took over. The duo waited. 

In neither of the previous occasions had any noise reached down to their cells other than the familiar knocks telling Kakashi and whoever healed Gaara to come out. Naruto would laugh at their lack of finesse if he wasn’t sweating. 

He already expected the sound of steps to come, hands balling into fists on his lap, torso leaning sideways towards Gaara. The redhead scuttled closer to him, in clear view of the person that was stepping into their space. Or as close they could get. 

Of all the people that passed through his mind, Naruto couldn’t fathom how the only person absent from his list was the one walking out of the shadows. His breath hitched. 

“Naruto,” Iruka gasped, hands covering his mouth in disbelief. 

He remembered the man, the only memory that still gripped his heart tight on a daily basis, the only name occasionally passing through his lips. He sometimes shared stories with a smile, strolling down village streets with kids in tow. He would smile and laugh and make flower crowns while speaking of sunny days and ramen. He would sing to kids the way Iruka used to sing to him. 

Gaara was the one who shared his nights and heard his cries. He was the one who hugged Naruto and comforted him until the blonde closed his eyes. He never told the children why he left his own village; Never told the children of his scars and bruises and the man who burned his hope to ash. 

“It’s really you,” Iruka came closer, the stars of nostalgia playing behind his eyes. 

Naruto backed away. Iruka winced slightly, quickly morphing the reaction into a soft smile. 

“You finally came home,”

“No,” Naruto bit out, moving closer to Gaara’s side. Moving to where he deemed safe. “I didn’t.” 

Iruka shed tears freely, falling down to his knees. Naruto remembered a time when this man at his own height meant comfort, now all he could think of was grief. 

“But you’re here,” Iruka spoke with a hope that had long since vanished from Naruto’s soul. “You’re back.” 

He repeated the words like a prayer, passing his eyes over Naruto once and again, affirming in his mind that the blond was really in front of him. This wasn’t an illusion, it wasn’t a dream. But it wasn’t Iruka’s reality either. 

“My place is not here. It could never be.” Naruto broke through Iruka’s wishful veil, savoring the way the man snapped away from his fantasy. 

“You don’t belong in the streets, Naruto. You were born from something bigger than that. Something purer.” 

Naruto threw his head back to laugh, a chilling sound that carried no humor in it. He felt more than saw Gaara tensing in the other cell. 

“You should be proud, Iruka,” Naruto wheezed out in between his dying laugh. “I took a different path, like you told me to.” 

The brunet frowned down at his hysterical performance, gripping the metal bars before hissing and moving away. Naruto grinned when he saw the red marks appear on the man’s skin. 

“I didn’t want you to become this,” Iruka spat out the last word as if it was something dirty, hiding his injured hands behind his back. 

“You didn’t want me to become anything!” Naruto spat out, eyes turning an orange red, canines enlarging with his heaving emotions. 

Iruka shook his head, bowing with his eyes closed, rejecting this statement. 

Rage tinted Naruto’s soul black, legs pushing him up and towards the older man, mouth snarling at the stricken face crying onto the stone floor. 

“Get out,” Naruto growled, gripping the metal bars like Iruka couldn’t, passing over the burning pain searing marks into his skin. “I never want to see you again.” 

His voice was a warbled tone turned shrill, nails turning into sharp claws that bit the metal he was squeezing. Naruto could break this man’s skull open and peer at his memories, yet nothing would convince him of the sorry act. How dare he cry in front of him? How dare he act like he was the one that lost something? 

“Naruto,” Iruka started, sobs wrecking his body into shivers. 

“Get out!” 

Ninjas had to come in to drag the brunet away, all but peeling him away from the front of his cell. Naruto didn’t move, glaring all the way until the upstairs door clicked shut. 

His hands were bubbling with blisters, the metal he was gripping hissing louder and louder until he let go. Gaara called him over, demanding to see his palms, cursing him for his impulsiveness, then letting out a gentle breath when his skin started stitching itself back together. 

-

“I’m sorry,” Gaara whispered late into the night, deeming it safe to finally talk to his partner.

Naruto stared at the streaming moonlight, dry tear tracks running down his cheeks. 

“Why?” The blond whispered back. “You’re not the one that broke my heart.” 

-

It had been something over a month, Kakashi thought. A month and a few days since the day their long lost jinchuuriki was captured at the Leaf’s front doors. He had been apprehensive of the arrest, not trusting at all how easy the whole ordeal had been. 

Shikamaru spoke freely of the encounter in front of him to their Hokage, sharing also how foul the event tasted on his tongue. 

“He was just standing there, Lady Tsunade,” Shikamaru frowned, thumbing the pack of cigarettes in his pocket. “Almost seemed like he wanted to get captured.” 

But now it had been a month and a few days and the criminal duo still lay quietly in their cells. 

Kakashi’s mission since that fateful day was to play guard, sometimes interrogator, part-time joker to and with the monsters singing all day and all night in the place they called ‘our very nice bedrooms’. No more incidents had happened, not after Iruka had forfeited all rights to step anywhere near the high security jail. The brunet hadn’t even tried to get in again. 

Tucking his book into his hip pouch, Kakashi unclasped it to hand it to the front guard at the prison. 

“Afternoon, Kakashi,” the woman greeted, grabbing the rest of his belongings and weapons. “You missed the singing, they’ve been quiet for a while now.” 

“Whatever shall I do?” he mock cried, putting a hand over his heart. 

After chuckling, the woman gave him a pass to enter, knocking thrice on the front door and opening it for him. Kakashi thanked her with a bow, stepping into the darkness of the jail. 

The front guard wasn’t lying, the inside was eerily quiet, something that didn’t normally happen on a bright afternoon like today. A prickle at the back of his neck told him to get down the stairs faster. 

“Shikamaru,” Kakashi called out, surprised to see the ninja down there. 

The Nara didn’t turn to look at him, face directed at the cells, arms crossed over his chest. Kakashi jumped down the stairs to stand beside him. 

“What happened?” The older ninja asked, looking for clues in the Nara’s expression. 

Shikamaru rubbed his eyes, as if trying to clear away some tiredness. “They’re empty.”

“What?” 

“The cells are empty,” Shikamaru pointed at the twin cells that were, indeed, bare of any jinchuurikis. 

Kakashi felt his stomach drop. 

Alarms were raised, ninjas told the Hokage, dogs pulled out to get a trail. 

The whole affair was an embarrassment. They had been expecting a breakout during the first few days, had been prepared for it in the weeks to follow, and yet… Despite all their training, they’d been lulled into a false sense of security. They had bought the goofy singing routine and forgotten how now dangerous their prisoners truly were. And now they were paying the price. 

They should have known better, but they had still been caught off guard. And that pissed Kakashi off more than he wanted to admit. 

Disappearing in a cloud of leaves, the ninja was blinded by overflowing emotions and completely oblivious to the trail of sand still circling the room.

-

Gaara followed behind Naruto as they ran away through the Land of Fire, making detours and putting false marks to derail whoever they sent after them. He watched closely his surroundings, keeping every single sense open to incoming threats. Everything had been still and quiet for a while. 

“We’re moving south,” Gaara mentioned, sprinting faster to catch up with the blond. “Are we going to the Land of Tea?” 

Naruto didn’t answer, eyes peeled to the front. 

His partner had been silent for a few hours. Ever since they made the decision to finally bail from the Leaf, Naruto had withdrawn into himself. Gaara would like to say he could understand and read the blond, but he couldn’t. He didn’t dare interfere in the thought swirling inside that beautiful mind, but he was getting worried. Naruto was not a silent person, never had been. 

As he opened his mouth again to talk, Naruto decided to finally cut in. 

“We’re not going to the Tea,” he answered, jumping over a boulder. “We’re going to the Wave.” 

Gaara frowned, stopping abruptly in his tracks. Naruto noticed after a few seconds, coming to a halt a few feet away. 

“Naruto,” Gaara started, running a hand through his blood red hair. “Are you sure?” 

He had heard about the massacre that happened in the Wave, about how most of the Uzumaki clan was slaughtered. 

People in the big villages didn’t often talk about the minor ones, but Gaara being the jinchuuriki that he was, decided to ask around about seals. He got sent to a lone library in the Sand where he could read by himself and that way he found small passages talking about the strong Uzumaki clan, geniuses in their field. Their long lifespans and vast reserves of energy drew him in, his eyes drinking information readily. He had immediately demanded at the time to have an Uzumaki tend to him and his seal, nothing less than the very best for his own personal care. Imagine his surprise when the elders had to sit him down to explain about the shortage of people from that clan, only existing runaways hiding to hold on to their lives. 

Years later he came across the path of one Uzumaki Naruto, prodigal son of a dead clan. The lost last name captured his attention, even if the boy lacked their distinct red hair. Gaara didn’t think twice before following after the boy, eventually asking if he knew anything of his clan’s art. Naruto didn’t, he admitted with regret, but Gaara knew that lack of knowledge wouldn’t be able to erase the powerful blood inside his veins. He may not have followed him solely for the name, but certainly it didn’t hurt that he was in the company of one carrying legacy on his shoulders. 

Naruto took a deep breath, ocean blue eyes turning upwards to watch the clouds pass by overhead. 

“I have been searching for a home ever since I left the Leaf.” Gaara saw his partner gulp, arms crossed behind his back. “And I found that when I found you, but being back there- Gaara, what if we can find other people like us? What if we can give a home to others that were also neglected by their birthplace?” 

He couldn’t deny that hunting down criminals turned a little dull after a while, always the same pattern without mind, always violence without reward. They traveled the land constantly, never staying too long in a single place. It broke his heart every time village children clung to their clothes as they were about to part. 

Perhaps, this time, they could create somewhere they didn’t have to run away from. 

Gaara sighed, walking towards his partner to grab his hand. His lips quirked up when Naruto intertwined their fingers. 

“I would like to create a home with you.” 

Naruto smiled softly at him, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. Gaara kissed his temple before pulling away. 

“But we better start moving, or this dream is going to be shattered before it starts.” 

The blond gave a wet laugh, wiping his tears away as they started running south once more. 

Running towards their future home. 

**Author's Note:**

> I want to give my most extreme thanks to [anagramofanakin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anagramofanakin/pseuds/anagramofanakin) who came forward to help me with this story and without whom I wouldn't have been able to finish correctly. I have no words to express how happy I am thanks to you.


End file.
